That’s the NEW name of the study, because the OLD name just didn’t…sing…if you get my drift.
$384,949 Federal Study Looks at ‘Plasticity in Duck Penis Length’
The National Science Foundation (NSF) has awarded a $384,949 grant to Yale University for a study on “Sexual Conflict, Social Behavior and the Evolution of Waterfowl Genitalia”, according to the recovery.gov website.
The grant description says,“The project examines how reproductive morphology covaries with season, age, and social environment in a diverse sample of duck species that differ in ecology, territoriality and breeding system.”
The grant was made available through the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, better known as the stimulus package.
The project has been receiving money from the NSF since 2009 and is slated for funding through July of this year.
“In the last quarter, we have prepared a manuscript for submission on the results of the first two years of experiments on social phenotypic plasticity in duck penis length in Lesser Scaup and Ruddy Duck. Experiments continued on genital social phenotypic plasticity in Mandarin Duck and Laysan Teal,” a 2010 fourth quarter recovery.gov update on the study says.
Many duck penises are cork-screw shaped and some scientists believe this is because of a form of evolution known as “sexual conflict“.
Bowl bought for $3 sells for more than $2 million at NY auction
A New York family scored a huge payday when a small bowl, which they bought at a garage sale for $3, turned out to be a 1,000-year old Chinese piece that sold for $2.2 million at Sotheby’s yesterday. The family bought the rare bowl at the secondhand sale in 2007, and kept it sitting on their mantle for years, the auction house said.
…He beat four other bidders for the Northern Song dynasty bowl — known as a Ding bowl — which dates back to the 10th or 11th century.
But it doesn’t make no never mind any way. Unbesmirched things crack, chip, break and stain the second they hit my house as it is, leaving us to sing, “Don’t mean it’s not Ming if it ain’t got a ding! Doowop, doowop, doowop, doowop, bop!”
Scotland may allow Jedi to perform marriage ceremonies
The Force is strong with the Jedi in Scotland. The Free Church of Scotland is pushing a bill that would grant those who have literally made “Star Wars” a religion the power to perform marriage ceremonies.
The BBC reports that the Marriage and Civil Partnership Bill would apply to other nonreligious groups such as the Flat Earth Society and the Jedi Knights Society, aka Temple of the Jedi Order.
And while it may sound like a joke to most, the Jedi religion is quite popular in some parts of Europe. In England, it is the second-most popular “alternative religion,” with more than 175,000 people listing themselves as Jedi in the 2012 nationwide census.
“Our current consultation covers not only the introduction of same-sex marriage but also the detail of important protections in relation to religious bodies and celebrants, freedom of speech and education,” a Scottish government spokeswoman said.
“At the moment, marriage ceremonies by bodies such as humanists have been classed as religious, even though the beliefs of such organizations are nonreligious.”
The move might be seen as a tad ironic, even among “Star Wars” enthusiasts, seeing as the actual Jedi in the “Star Wars” saga are typically not allowed to marry.
Come all you big spenders
And list while I sing
Your lust for my savings
Is a terrible thing
It banishes truth and
Sets countries aflame
As people they wise to
Your Cypriot Games
The Cyprus government is in crisis talks to come up with a plan to secure an emergency bailout package to shore up its banks and avert financial meltdown.
On Tuesday night, parliament threw out a controversial plan to skim €5.8bn (£5bn) from savings accounts, in a move that risked plunging the eurozone into deeper turmoil and heightened expectations that the cash-strapped country would seek a funding lifeline from Russia.
…With the crisis escalating, an RAF flight carrying €1m in low-denomination notes landed in Cyprus to provide cash for 3,000 British service personnel based there. With local banks shut since Friday and electronic transactions halted, although cash machines are working, the Ministry of Defence said the euros had been flown in as “contingency measure”.
…”We have some ideas. We are thinking of nationalising the pension funds and provident funds of the state employees,” Mavrides said. “That is about €2bn-€3bn, and we do have some other ideas which will come up in the next few days.”
Really, the governments have been such good stewards of our funds so far that it just makes perfect sense to allow them to take everything.
(CNSNews.com) – The National Institutes of Health (NIH) has awarded $2.7 million to study why lesbians are at a higher “risk for hazardous drinking.”
The University of Illinois has received grants since 2009 for its project, “Cumulative Stress and Hazardous Drinking in a Community of Adult Lesbians,” which aims to develop “culturally sensitive” strategies to prevent lesbians from being drunks.
…The study is being led by Tonda Hughes, professor at the Department of Health Systems Science at the University of Illinois, an “internationally recognized expert in the area of alcohol use among lesbians,” according to the University.
Reuters) – Seven Marines were killed and seven others were wounded in an explosion that occurred during a training exercise at a military facility in western Nevada, a military spokesman said on Tuesday.
The blast at Hawthorne Army Depot, a military ammunition storage facility, took place late Monday during a Marine training exercise.
Guess who thinks you may need some “help” managing it?
The U.S. Consumer Financial Protection Bureau is weighing whether it should take on a role in helping Americans manage the $19.4 trillion they have put into retirement savings, a move that would be the agency’s first foray into consumer investments.
“That’s one of the things we’ve been exploring and are interested in in terms of whether and what authority we have,” bureau director Richard Cordray said in an interview. He didn’t provide additional details.
The bureau’s core concern is that many Americans, notably those from the retiring Baby Boom generation, may fall prey to financial scams, according to three people briefed on the CFPB’s deliberations who asked not to be named because the matter is still under discussion.
“Fall prey to financial scams”
Like, say, the Government.
They are all whores and thieves.
We used to shoot horse thieves, didn’t we?
They will do everything they can to steal that $19.4 trillion dollars from you.
Police: Pa. Prison Guard Shoots Off Finger To Remove Wedding Ring
PITTSBURGH (AP) — A federal prison guard has been charged with shooting his own finger in a drunken attempt to remove his wedding ring during an argument with his wife at their northwestern Pennsylvania home, police said.
A criminal complaint said Bradford police were called just before 9 p.m. March 2 and were met by Alfredo Malespini III, 31, who told officers he was “trying to get rid of his wedding ring” and decided to “shoot it off.” The Bradford Era first reported the shooting on Friday.
Obviously it’s worse when you miss the point of the exercise completely…
…The gunshot badly mangled Malespini’s finger, but didn’t remove the ring, police said.
It marks the first time that the IMF and the 17 eurozone nations have dipped into people’s savings to finance a bailout, a move that analysts worry may roil international markets and jeopardize Europe’s fragile economy.
9.37 John Bingham reports: It looks like the 76-year-old Pope is going to keep his minders on their toes. He started his pontificate with a ride on a bog standard minibus instead of a special car. He is reported to have nipped out into Rome last night. And this morning he was up with the lark and scooted half-way across the city to pray at the Papal basilica of St Mary Major, taking even the dominicans by surprise. There are already comparisons being made with John XXIII whose reign was expected to be a quiet affair but ended up revolutionising the church.
Sen. Patty Murray’s new budget plan will raise tax revenues by nearly $1 trillion while cutting spending by the same amount over the next decade, according to people familiar with the proposal.
The Budget Committee chairwoman plans to brief fellow Democratic senators over the new proposal in a closed-door lunch Tuesday that President Barack Obama is also scheduled to attend. Committee deliberations will begin Wednesday, and the panel expects to vote on the plan Thursday before floor debate next week.
Typical Obama Democrat ~ more of OUR money out and not a damn thing gained.
Fun, Nanny State, Politics | tree hugging sister | 
March 20, 2013 6:20 pm | 
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